daily insights to help marketers become better storytellers!

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Ideas are IMPORTANT, but what’s most important is the EXECUTION! People care more about how hard you work to getting your message out there. What are you willing to do? How much time are you willing to put into your brand? How many people are you willing to share emotions with? How many people are you willing to make feel special & express to them how important they are to your brand? I believe that the more energy you put into spreading the word about your brand, the more you get out of it. It sounds simple, but I can guarantee that most people don’t do it! It’s all about focusing intensely on accomplishing specific goals & not stopping until those goals are accomplished.

Let’s use my blog for example: I’ve set a goal to get at least 1,000 views for the month of August & at least 200 new followers! In order for me to accomplish both, I must get at least 36 views per day and 7 new followers per day! I’ve set specific goals to tweet at least 100 tweets per day, 30 guest blog comments, & 50 Google+ comments. I know that it may sound ridiculous, but I’m determined to prove to myself that I can BLOWAWAY this goal of 1,000 views in one month & 200 new followers!

If you truly believe in something, then putting in the effort shouldn’t be as complicated as people make it seem. I know for a fact that my blog is going to BLOW soon! It’s just a matter of EXECUTION & TIME for people to notice!

People don’t want to be apart of a brand that only talks about themselves! They want to be apart of something that adds value to their life & shows them how important they are. Humans have a CHOICE on whether or not they want to deal with your brand! So, if you don’t connect, they won’t care. In order to connect I feel that brands should do more LISTNEING & paying close attention to their audience. That way when it comes time to connect, create, & implement strategies, you can be confident in your EVERY move. People want to be uplifted, feel important, and most of all be apart of something!

For example: Nike doesn’t just put up pictures of models in their clothing & post them online. They tell unique stories targeted specifically to athletes, that all athletes can relate to! But most importantly, they make sure that their audience is involved! In every commercial, campaign, advertisement, & sponsorship you see athletes. I believe that it just all about connecting by sharing those unique experiences with those who share the same worldview. Everything is changing, people are smarter, the world is moving faster than ever, so in order to make sure that I keep up, I MUST connect with my audience as much as I can!

Just think about it, Instagram grew from 0 to 100 million users in just 2 YEARS! Twitter went from 0-500 million in six, & I can go on & on! If we as marketers & business owners took advantage of these social networks to the best of our ability, our business could do just as well. It’s all about finding ONE social network that your audience interacts most with, get to know it as well as you possibly can, & LISTEN! Figuring out what my audience wants plays a HUGE part on my role as a marketer. Why? Because if I don’t know what they, I don’t know how to create my message in a way that’ll grasp their attention! Why not, LISTEN to them, figure out what they want, & take the time to engage with each of them individually. I honestly believe that the more you put into building healthy relationships with your audience, the more they’ll interact with your brand (& tell their friends)! What about you guys, what do you think? (Feel free to comment &/or subscribe)

I believe that if I don’t know WHY my brand exists, it’s going to be unclear when it comes to building it. Knowing why will be the heart of everything & also with determine how I make important decisions we face. Answering that simple question will be something that I can always go back to.

Let’s use Steve Jobs for example:

In 1998, one year after Jobs had returned to Apple, he reminded everyone (including the company) why they were there in the first place. In order for Apple to have gotten back on track & reach the next level, Steve knew that they’d have to go back to WHY Apple was created I the first place. Once he opened his eyes to WHY, everything, from that point on was remarkable! :)

*The WHY to your brand should go deeper than money can buy. I believe that the “WHY” should consist a set of values that steer your brand (especially when making important decisions).

I don’t try to be EVERTHING to EVERYONE! I can’t! Well, maybe I can try, but I will never get a chance to accomplish anything. The world is too noisy to even attempt to be all in one. Why not choose one specific area to specialize in & focus intensely on that area? Being simple is clear & easy for people to understand. @PressCoffee (presscoffeeaz.com ) is a locally owned & roasted coffee shop in Scottsdale & Phoenix, Arizona. They’ve won numerous awards & the tweet above obviously tells you one of the reasons why. @PressCoffee decides to focus intensely on their everyday coffee drinker & create an experience that all of them can relate to! I love it & hope that they continue to deliver these remarkable experiences! :)

Just think of J.K Rowling, THE greatest best-selling author of all time (over 400 million copies sold), didn’t get there by focusing most of her energy into more than one main character. She started with Harry, his life, and focused 90% of her energy on things that would go on in his life. Yes, there were other characters, but none of them wouldn’t have came about if Harry’s life wasn’t the way it had been. I believe that when I focus all of my energy into giving ONE, other opportunities will form. But, not losing sight of the ONE that got me here is what will keep my brand going.

Another Example: Apple is one of the greatest electronic companies of all time! But, they didn’t get there just by focusing on their facts or features (even though they do it well). Apple became the greatest when they started to create an experience with the PC that no other brand did. Apple added color, emotion, and HUMANITY to the PC, which allowed them to appeal to a larger audience. Instead of focusing on the many facts & features, Apple chose to pick ONE within EVERY commercial or campaign they had, & added humanity to it, which made things simple.

Focusing intensely on ONE & allowing everything else to build around it is not only SIMPLICITY, but BEAUTY.

I don’t believe in elevator pitches! Most people don’t respond when I give them a pitch, why? Because I didn’t give them anything to respond to! In order to get people’s mind going I must ASK QUESTIONS! So, instead of giving them an elevator pitch or mission statement. Why not ask them a question in which I have an answer or solution to? This is why studying my targeted audience FIRST is important. When I study them, figure out where they interact and how. I can then present them with a question in which my already brand answers. I personally don’t have an elevator pitch for my blog, I ask ONE question to get my audience’s mind going, & give many different ways to approach it.

I believe that marketing success is showing up EVERYDAY, sharing a story that is remarkable, and touching the hearts of many humans. Do you matter? Would your audience miss you if you were gone? The better I know my audience, what appeals to them, & how the they interact is what I believe will put you me in the best position for success. If all of my focus goes towards making money, then I may be out of luck! Why? Because in order to make money, I must appeal, interact, & attract certain people. In order to interact with people the right way, I must study them, honor them, & come up with unique ways to bring them closer to my brand. Marketing success to me is measured by not only how many people buy my product, but how many hearts am I touching?

“In order to attract humans, I must approach my audience as one” -Cole

I don’t believe that the world of storytelling has changed! Even with social media, the latest technologies, and the noisy marketing environments. Everything still comes down to who delivers the greatest stories. I believe that today is much easier for any marketer to connect to an audience at any size. But, SIMPLCITY is one of the most important key factors when it comes to creating a story for ANY audience. SIMPLICITY is what makes things clear & compelling. @fireroastedcafe is a coffee roastery in London, Ontario. What got my attention is how simple their tweets were. They honor their audience with each of their tweets by mentioning them, tweeting them, & making them feel special EVERYDAY. Keeping your marketing simple is a how you attract the right audience & keep them engaged. I try to focus on ONE topic for each story & make sure that I stick to it. ONE is perfection, TWO is too much, & THREE is messy!

I believe that most marketers believe that they can just buy ad space or tweet 1000 tweets about the facts and features of their product to gain sales. I’ve stated before, “facts tell & stories sell”. The story behind my brand must be authentic and one that will spread . . . .FAST! Storytelling is just another way of engaging my audience & I must do so with passion. Creating a story around my brand that has values & morals that my audience can relate to. A story that they will soon become emotionally attached to.

2. IT IS NOT ABOUT ME!

Even though I may see my brand as MINE. If I think deeply about it, it would come down to being my audience’s brand. Why? Because you get out of it, what you put into it. Meaning, if all you talk about is yourself, then you’ll be the only person involved. But, if I honor whomever it is that can benefit from my brand, THAT is what I believe gets the job done. Always keeping my audience in mind.

3. BE CONSISTENT!

“The ones that show up everyday, are the ones that win!” There’s magic in action. I believe that the ones who give the most & show up everyday to accomplish it are the ones that succeed. I’ve only been blogging for some weeks now (6 weeks) & I’ve already gotten audience of over 100 that engages regularly. Why? Because they know that they can expect simplicity, compelling, & educational content. Also, because I spend time EVERYDAY interacting with other blogs & bloggers. I love to keep my post short, simple, & straight to the point. No one wants to spend more than 2 minutes on one post & I make sure that I stick to it! Be consistent, don’t give up just yet, let’s try a little harder for just a little longer to see where we can go.

People love to feel important and special. The reason they love your brand is because of the way you make them feel. People buy & pay more attention to things based off of their emotions. I believe that the better you make someone feel, the more likely they are to interact with your brand. In order to build them, I must appreciate and value the ones that I have. Study them, interact with them. Which platform do they spend most of their time on? How often? At what times are they most active? What do they talk about? Using these questions when approaching an audience is what I believe will grow your audience at a pace that may even scare you. I see my audience like I do my kids or close family. I study, communicate, help, and give value to each. With the hope that they give the same :D